Vadodara, Aug. 8 -- The UTT National Ranking Table Tennis Championships got off to a competitive start at the SAMA Indoor Stadium Complex here today, with Gujarat's women paddlers making a strong opening statement in the first round of the singles qualifiers.

Mouboni Chatterjee, Sheli Patel, Shiney Gomes, Aafrien Murad, Namna Jayswal, and Pratha Pawar all advanced, showing early signs of home-ground confidence and composure under pressure.

In contrast, the men's singles saw a broader field of winners from across the state, including Harshvardhan Patel, Nilay Thakkar, Pavan Detroja, Devesh Karia, Jalay Mehta, Arya Kataria, Abhilash Rawal, Pratham Madlani, Chitrax Bhatt, and Devarsh Vaghela - all keeping their qualification hopes alive ...